Digital and IT general topics Books

Book SynopsisAs people use self-tracking devices and other digital technologies, they generate increasing quantities of personal information online. These data have many benefits, but they can also be accessed and exploited by third parties. Using rich examples from popular culture and empirical research, Deborah Lupton develops a fresh and intriguing perspective on how people make sense of and use their personal data, and what they know about others who use this information. Drawing on feminist new materialism theory and the anthropology of material culture, she acknowledges the importance of paying attention to embodied experiences, as well as discourses and ideas, in identifying the ways in which people make and enact data, and data make and enact people. Arguing that personal data are more-than-human phenomena, invested with diverse forms of vitalities, Lupton reveals significant implications for data futures, politics and ethics. Lupton's novel approach to understanding personal data will be of interest to students and scholars in media and cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, surveillance studies, information studies, cultural geography and science and technology studies.Trade Review‘Deborah Lupton lucidly explains how data, human bodies and “selves” are inextricably entwined in our contemporary digital world. This is a perfect sequel to her excellent The Quantified Self.’José van Dijck, author of The Culture of Connectivity and The Platform Society ‘An exciting study of human-data interactions in a digital era. From digitized pregnancy to worries about the surveillant use of personal data by third parties, there’s much here to stimulate debate. A must-read marker for digital sociology in the twenty-first century.’David Lyon, Queen’s University, Canada"Data Selves puts forward a thorough and complete theory of human-data entanglement. Its strength lies in its breadth and ambition, uniting a variety of fields of study to produce nuanced views that will be fruitful for readers from both humanistic and social-scientific disci-plines. Ultimately, Lupton’s monograph represents a thoughtful and novel exploration of media-human ontology, rich with diverse examples, which will benefit undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars alike."Journal of Cinema and Media Studies Table of Contents1 Introduction 2 More-than-Human Perspectives 3 Materialising Data 4 Doing Data 5 Sharing and Exploiting Data Final Thoughts Appendix References Index

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing'Reading this book might make you wish to set fire to your smartphone, but it might also make you wish to call for reform. If you do the latter you might consider the former, as long as that thing is on, they know where you live.' Margaret Atwood How to comprehend and correct the negative impact of the internet on politics, the economy, the environment and humanity? Reset is a fast-paced, compelling expose; and a rallying call for clear change. Drawing on the cutting-edge research of the Citizen Lab, the world-renowned digital security research group he founded, Ronald J. Deibert exposes the influence of the communications ecosystem on civil society. He tracks a mostly unregulated surveillance industry, innovations in technologies of remote control, superpower policing practices, dark PR firms and highly profitable hack-for-hire services feeding off rivers of poorly secured personal data. He also unearths how dependence on social media and its expanding universe of consumer electronics creates immense pressure on the natural environment.  Determined to find solutions, Deibert has written a unique, readable and forward-looking book. In order to combat authoritarian practices, environmental degradation and rampant electronic consumerism, Deibert urges for very specific restraints on tech platforms and governments to reclaim the internet for civil society. It's time for us to push RESET. 'Deibert is a rare hybrid who combines an advanced understanding of computer technology with a rich background in political science. He is also a legend in security and tech circles.' Misha GlennyTrade Review'No one has done more than Ron Deibert and his lab to expose the enemies of the internet ... Reset is the definitive narrative of where we went wrong and a last chance to make things right.' Edward Snowden - 'Deibert is a rare hybrid who combines an advanced understanding of computer technology with a rich background in political science. He is also a legend in security and tech circles.' Misha Glenny, McMafia - 'Tech is at a crossroads between oppression and liberation, and Ronald J. Deibert is our leading expert on the forces steering it in either direction. Reset is a road map revealing the secret alleys and byways that brought us to this juncture, and the ways ahead that we could navigate to a better future.' Cory Doctorow, author of Radicalized and Walkaway - 'Ron Deibert has been at the heart of analysing the harms of technology to human rights, and increasingly to the human condition, for decades. His deep research and clear moral compass make his plea for a "reset" an urgent one ... Essential reading.' Marietje Schaake, international policy director of the Cyber Policy Center, Stanford University, and president of the CyberPeace Institute

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Book SynopsisThis book is for people worrying about their sinking ship. Based on experience, it is a guide for navigating the blockers, buzzwords and bloody-mindedness that doom any analogue organisation trapped into thinking that while the internet has changed the world, it won't change their world. Companies that grew up on the web have changed our expectations of the services we rely on. We demand simplicity, speed and low cost. Organizations founded before the Internet aren't keeping up - despite spending millions on IT, marketing and 'innovation'. This revised, expanded second edition of Digital Transformation at Scale is a guide to building a digital institution. It explains how a growing band of reformers in businesses and governments around the world have helped their organizations pivot to this new way of working, and what lessons others can learn from their experience. It is based on the authors' experience designing and helping to deliver the UK's Government Digital Service (GDS). The GDS was a new institution made responsible for the digital transformation of government, designing public services for the Internet era. It snipped £4 billion off the government's technology bill, opened up public sector contracts to thousands of new suppliers, and delivered online services so good that citizens chose to use them over the offline alternatives, without a big marketing campaign. Other countries and companies noticed, with the GDS model now being copied around the world.Trade Review"Now more than ever we need to take the chance to shape the digital world as it shapes us. All governments and large organisations must take part. The story in this powerful book is essential reading." — Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho; "Business transformation is hard. Government transformation is harder. But both must make the transition to the digital age if they are to thrive. Digital Transformation at Scale is written by those who know how it’s done, because they’ve led that transformation. This is THE invaluable guide to bringing legacy institutions into the 21st century." — Tim O’Reilly, Founder and CEO, O’Reilly Media; "The transformation the authors led in the UK sparked change in governments around the world, including the Obama White House. Their approach broke open decades of dysfunction and waste and made the public believe in government. And that belief is foundational to our democracy." — Jen Pahlka, Executive Director of Code for America; "The Government Digital Service was one of the great unsung triumphs of the last parliament. This book is indispensable for any leader looking to emulate that success." — David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010–16); "An important and timely book. Dealing with government online should be as easy as ordering from Amazon. The UK model – acting like a start-up rather than a traditional government agency – is one from which all big organisations should learn." — Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia (2015–18)

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Book SynopsisA leader in the field of data visualization, Stephen Few exposes the common problems in dashboard design and describes its best practices in great detail and with a multitude of examples in this updated second edition. According to the author, dashboards have become a popular means to present critical information at a glance, yet few do so effectively. He purports that when designed well, dashboards engage the power of visual perception to communicate a dense collection of information efficiently and with exceptional clarity and that visual design skills that address the unique challenges of dashboards are not intuitive but rather learned. The book not only teaches how to design dashboards but also gives a deep understanding of the concepts—rooted in brain science—that explain the why behind the how. This revised edition offers six new chapters with sections that focus on fundamental considerations while assessing requirements, in-depth instruction in the design of bullet graphs and sparklines, and critical steps to follow during the design process. Examples of graphics and dashboards have been updated throughout, including additional samples of well-designed dashboards.Trade Review"Stephen Few is the master of creating simplicity and meaning through the clear visualization of data." --Garr Reynolds, author, The Naked Presenter and Presentation Zen"Design does not happen by accident. It is the product of careful and deliberate planning. Stephen Few demonstrates this through examples and best practices that are easy to understand and will improve how we display and communicate information. Businesses that value design will leap ahead because they will be able to quickly assimilate information, efficiently focus time and efforts, and create alignment, agility, and effectiveness. This book provides a running head start!" --Eleanor Taylor, strategist, SAS Institute"Written by one of the foremost expert in the field of data visualization, this is one of those rare books that seem to make the publication of other works on the same topic unnecessary. This is a very complete book and was obviously developed with great care. I highly recommend Stephen Few's Information Dashboard Design to any information designers who are focusing on the visual display of data and, more particularly, to dashboard designers." --Pabini Gabriel-Petit, CEO and Principal User Experience Architect, Spirit Softworks"How nice to find a book in which the best practices for dashboard design are all thoughtfully packaged. You are advised to make these mandatory reading for your designers." --Claudia Imhoff, president, Intelligent Solutions, Inc.

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Book Synopsis'Vital reading. This is the book on artificial intelligence we need right now.' Mike Krieger, cofounder of InstagramArtificial intelligence is rapidly dominating every aspect of our modern lives influencing the news we consume, whether we get a mortgage, and even which friends wish us happy birthday. But as algorithms make ever more decisions on our behalf, how do we ensure they do what we want? And fairly?This conundrum - dubbed 'The Alignment Problem' by experts - is the subject of this timely and important book. From the AI program which cheats at computer games to the sexist algorithm behind Google Translate, bestselling author Brian Christian explains how, as AI develops, we rapidly approach a collision between artificial intelligence and ethics. If we stand by, we face a future with unregulated algorithms that propagate our biases - and worse - violate our most sacred values. Urgent and fascinating, this is an accessible primer to the most important issue facing AI researchers today.Trade ReviewEssential reading. Christian brings much needed clarity to a subject that is often talked about but little understood. * Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media *Balanced and meticulously researched * New Statesman *Superb * Hannah Fry, New Yorker *Vital reading. This is the book on artificial intelligence we need right now. Brian Christian takes us on a technically fluent (yet widely accessible) journey through the most important questions facing AI and humanity. * Mike Krieger, cofounder of Instagram *An abundantly researched and captivating book that explores the road humanity has taken to create a successor for itself-a road that's rich with surprising discoveries, unexpected obstacles, ingenious solutions and, increasingly, hard questions about the soul of our species. * Jaan Tallinn, cofounder of Skype and the Future of Life Institute *A fascinating, provocative, and insightful tour of all the ways that AI goes wrong and all the ways people are trying to fix it. Essential reading if you want to understand where our world is heading. * Stuart Russell, author of Human Compatible *A new field has emerged that responds to and scrutinizes the vast technological shifts represented by our modern, virtual, algorithmically defined world. In The Alignment Problem, Brian Christian masterfully surveys the 'AI fairness' community, introducing us to some of its historical roots in science, philosophy, and activism; and crucially, many of its quandaries and limitations. * Cathy O'Neil, bestselling author of Weapons of Math Destruction *A riveting and deeply complex look at artificial intelligence and the significant challenge in creating computer models that 'capture our norms and values'... Lay readers will find Christian's revealing study to be a helpful guide to an urgent problem in tech. * Publishers Weekly *A deeply enjoyable and meticulously researched account of how computer scientists and philosophers are defining the biggest question of our time: how will we create intelligent machines which will improve our lives rather than complicate or even destroy them? There's no better book than The Alignment Problem at spelling out the issues of governing AI safely. * James Barrat, bestselling author of Our Final Invention *Brian Christian is a fine writer and has produced a fascinating book. AI seems destined to become, for good or ill increasingly prominent in our lives. We should be grateful for this balanced and hype-free perspective on its scope and limits. * Martin Rees, Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, University of Cambridge *Table of Contents0: Introduction 1: REPRESENTATION 2: FAIRNESS 3: TRANSPARENCY 4: REINFORCEMENT 5: SHAPING 6: CURIOSITY 7: IMITATION 8: INFERENCE 9: UNCERTAINTY 10: Conclusion

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Book SynopsisOur new A Level textbook is written in the straightforward, easy-to-grasp style for which Pat Heathcote and Rob Heathcote are well-known. Each chapter in the book corresponds to roughly one lesson, and contains questions and exercises which can be done in class, as well as questions at the end of each chapter which can be set as homework. Answers to all questions are provided in downloadable pdf format available free to teachers from the PG Online website. This book is divided into twelve sections comprising 72 chapters, which together provide complete coverage of the new AS and A Level course. Two short appendices contain A Level content that could be taught in the first year of the course as an extension to related AS topics. The specification is written in such a way that AS and A Level students can be taught together. Programming solutions within the textbook are all written in pseudocode to suit all practical languages being taught alongside the theory. To accompany this textbook, PG Online also publishes a series of six downloadable teaching units. Each topic in a unit consists of a PowerPoint presentation, teacher's notes, worksheets, homework sheets and a final assessment test with exam-style questions. Pat Heathcote and Rob Heathcote both have years of experience as teachers, authors and examiners.

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Book SynopsisWhat does Platform Thinking mean? It is the ability to put platform-based mechanisms at the core of digital business transformations in business.Digital Platforms like Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, Booking.com, and many others completely re-shaped the daily life of millions of users. However, many innovation leaders struggle to conceive the significance of their impact. Platform-based business models are not just the real of geeks' startups, digital services, and Unicorns. This book shows there that their potential in creating value is higher than suspected.Even though platform ecosystems are complex, readers will take on a journey to become Platform Thinkers. Their eyes will be trained to look beyond what's visible and start reading the platform world around them. Then, they will be guided into a step-by-step process and learn how to write a new platform model from scratch.This book is the result of a decade of research. It offers both a framework and practical instruments to champion digital transformation in any organization. It is specially intended for those who are interested in the glittering platform world and are still trying to figure it out.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisFrom A to Z, or more appropriately, from AB01 to XK99, this is the SAP transaction code encyclopedia you've been waiting for. Learn how to use more than 3,000 transaction codes with ease in your daily SAP ERP work, whether your focus is in Financials, Logistics, HR, or all of the above.

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Book SynopsisAn insightful exploration of Chat GPT and other advanced AI systems?how we got here, where we?re headed, and what it all means for how we interact with the world.In ChatGPT and the Future of AI, the sequel to The Deep Learning Revolution, Terrence Sejnowski offers a nuanced exploration of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and what their future holds. How should we go about understanding LLMs? Do these language models truly understand what they are saying? Or is it possible that what appears to be intelligence in LLMs may be a mirror that merely reflects the intelligence of the interviewer? In this book, Sejnowski, a pioneer in computational approaches to understanding brain function, answers all our urgent questions about this astonishing new technology.Sejnowski begins by describing the debates surrounding LLMs? comprehension of language and exploring the notions of ?thinking? and ?intelligence.? He then takes a deep dive into the historical evolution of language models, focusing on the role of transformers, the correlation between computing power and model size, and the intricate mathematics shaping LLMs. Sejnowski also provides insight into the historical roots of LLMs and discusses the potential future of AI, focusing on next-generation LLMs inspired by nature and the importance of developing energy-efficient technologies.Grounded in Sejnowski?s dual expertise in AI and neuroscience, ChatGPT and the Future of AI is the definitive guide to understanding the intersection of AI and human intelligence.

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Book SynopsisA guided tour of the rapidly evolving networked world of connected devices, objects, and people that is changing the way we live and work.Since the publication of the original edition of this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, the Internet of Things (IoT) has evolved from a novelty (look! my phone connects to my lamp!) to a mainstream technology framework that we rely on every day to accomplish many tasks. This revised and updated edition reports on the latest developments in this rapidly evolving networked world of connected devices, objects, and people that is changing the way we live and work.Business and technology writer Samuel Greengard takes us on a guided tour of the IoT, describing smart lightbulbs, sensors in phones that trigger earthquake warnings, 3D headsets that connect users to business expos through completely immersive virtual reality environments, and more. He offers a clear explanation of the technology that builds and manages

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Book SynopsisA broad introduction to cryptography what it is, how it really works, what its future holds, and why every informed citizen should understand its basics.

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Book SynopsisStarting a new SAP S/4HANA Finance implementation? Get it right the first time! From setting up an organizational structure to defining master data, this comprehensive guide to configuring SAP S/4HANA Finance walks you through each key task. Follow step-by-step instructions organized by functional area: general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, margin analysis, group reporting, and more. Customize SAP S/4HANA to meet your FI/CO needs!Highlights Include: 1) Controlling2) Financial accounting 3) General ledger4) Accounts payable (AP)5) Accounts receivable (AR)6) Asset accounting7) Bank accounting8) Cost center accounting 9) Internal orders10) Margin analysis11) Predictive accounting12) Group reporting

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Book SynopsisUncover security vulnerabilities and harden your system against attacks. With this guide you’ll learn to set up a virtual learning environment where you can test out hacking tools, from Kali Linux to hydra and Wireshark.

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Book SynopsisSay goodbye to dependencies, bogged-down code, and inflexibility! With the Spring framework and Spring Boot, you?ll painlessly create Java applications that are production ready. Start with the basics: containers for Spring-managed beans, Spring framework modules, and proxies. Then learn to connect to relational databases, implement Jakarta Persistence, use Spring Data JPA, and work with NoSQL databases. Get the right know-how for modern software development with Spring and Java!Highlights include:1) Containers2) Modules3) Proxies4) Dependency injection5) Caching6) RESTful web services7) Security 8) Deployment9) Databases10) Jakarta Persistence11) Spring Data JPA12) Spring Web MVC

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Book SynopsisLearning about distributed systems, becoming familiar with technologies such as containers and functions, and knowing how to put everything together can be daunting. With this practical guide, you'll get up to speed on patterns for building cloud native applications and best practices for common tasks such as messaging, eventing, and DevOps.

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Book SynopsisContrary to popular myth, we do not yet live in the “Information Age.” At best, we live the “Data Age,” obsessed with the production, collection, storage, dissemination, and monetization of digital data. But data, in and of itself, isn’t valuable. Data only becomes valuable when we make sense of it. We rely on “information professionals” to help us understand data, but most fail in their efforts. Why? Not because they lack intelligence or tools, but mostly because they lack the necessary skills. Most information professionals have been trained primarily in the use of data analysis tools (Tableau, PowerBI, Qlik, SAS, Excel, R, etc.), but even the best tools are only useful in the hands of skilled individuals. Anyone can pick up a hammer and pound a nail, but only skilled carpenters can use a hammer to build a reliable structure. Making sense of data is skilled work, and developing those skills requires study and practice. Weaving data into understanding involves several distinct but complementary thinking skills. Foremost among them are critical thinking and scientific thinking. Until information professionals develop these capabilities, we will remain in the dark ages of data. This book is for information professionals, especially those who have been thrust into this important work without having a chance to develop these foundational skills. If you’re an information professional and have never been trained to think critically and scientifically with data, this book will get you started. Once on this path, you’ll be able to help usher in an Information Age worthy of the name.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPart I: Introduction 1. The Database Environment 2. Systems Analysis and Database Requirements Part II: Relational database design theory 3. Why Good Design Matters 4. Entities and Relationships 5. The Relational Data Model 6. Relational Algebra 7. Normalization 8. Database Design and Performance Tuning 9. Codd’s Rules for Relational DBMSs Part III: Relational database design practice 10. Introduction to SQL 11. Using SQL to Implement a Relational Design 12. Using CASE Tools for Database Design 13. Database Design Case Study #1: Mighty-Mite Motors 14. Database Design Case Study #2: East Coast Aquarium 15. Database Design Case Study #3: SmartMart Part IV: Using interactive SQL to manipulate a relational database 16. Simple SQL Retrieval 17. Retrieving Data from More Than One Table 18. Advanced Retrieval Operations 19. Working With Groups of Rows 20. Data Modification 21. Creating Additional Structural Elements Part V: Database implementation issues 22. Concurrency Control 23. Database Security 24. Data Warehousing 25. Data Quality Part VI: Beyond the relational data model 26. XML Support 27. Object-Relational Databases 28. Relational Databases and “Big Data”: The Alternative of a NoSQL Solution Part VII: Appendices A. Historical Antecedents B. SQL Programming C. SQL Syntax Summary

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Book SynopsisMost of our everyday life experiences are multisensory in nature; that is, they consist of what we see, hear, feel, taste, smell, and much more. Almost any experience you can think of, such as eating a meal or going to the cinema, involves a magnificent sensory world. In recent years, many of these experiences have been increasingly transformed and capitalised on through advancements that adapt the world around us - through technology, products, and services - to suit our ever more computerised environment. Multisensory Experiences: Where the senses meet technology looks at this trend and offers a comprehensive introduction to the dynamic world of multisensory experiences and design. It takes the reader from the fundamentals of multisensory experiences, through the relationship between the senses and technology, to finally what the future of those experiences may look like, and our responsibility in it. This book empowers you to shape your own and other people''s experiences by considering the multisensory worlds that we live in through a journey that marries science and practice. It also shows how we can take advantage of the senses and how they shape our experiences through intelligent technological design.Trade ReviewTraveling and eating are experiences of the five senses. We recognize the world through the window of the five senses. However, for a long time, only the visual and auditory windows were open to the digital world. This book introduces, with rich examples, how state-of-the-art digital media such as virtual reality can change the relationship between computer and us. I hope this book is a looking glass that reveals a way of understanding how technology can enrich our everyday life. * Masahiko Inami, Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo *A must read for researchers and practitioners learning about multisensory experiences and creating them artificially. Authors provided a solid framework using real life examples and connected broad set of disciplines to dissect the complex "experience" we live everyday, and our expectations from the technologies to enable them. The book is engaging, thought provoking and easy to read, with ample examples resonating with readers, jolting their thinking, and resolving with satisfying closures. It covers fundamental of "what is an experience?", its essential constituents, and "why, what, when, how, who and whom" of futuristic technologies enabling it. * Ali Israr, Research Scientist Haptics, Facebook Reality Labs, USA *It's easy to overlook given our contemporary screen-based dependence on swiping and typing, but our experience of the world goes beyond sight and touch, to include smell, taste, and sound-an entire universe of rich perceptual experiences our senses create in concert with each other. Who better to serve as our guides to the opportunities and responsibilities that accompany multisensory design than Marianna Obrist and Carlos Velasco, with their very different backgrounds and shared sense of curiosity and playfulness. * Nicola Twilley, Co-host of Gastropod, USA *Multisensory Experiences is a fascinating exploration that gives the reader a new understanding of our relation to human experience and the world around us. This book is a must read for anyone in the business of designing experiences, be that in a room, on a screen, on a plate, in a headset or wine glass. This book delights and inspires showing us a world of possibility that technology can bring to mulitsensory experiences. This book builds on the mindfulness revolution by giving us more complex, layered and detailed understanding of human sensory experience and how we may choose to modify that with technology. * Birch Hamilton, Executive Director Screen Directors Guild of Ireland, Ireland *Table of Contents1: The exciting world of multisensory experiences 2: Fundamentals of multisensory experiences 3: The human senses meet technology 4: Beyond the known and into the unknown future 5: Laws of multisensory experiences

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Book SynopsisClassic papers by thinkers ranging from from Aristotle and Leibniz to Norbert Wiener and Gordon Moore that chart the evolution of computer science.Ideas That Created the Future collects forty-six classic papers in computer science that map the evolution of the field. It covers all aspects of computer science: theory and practice, architectures and algorithms, and logic and software systems, with an emphasis on the period of 1936-1980 but also including important early work. Offering papers by thinkers ranging from Aristotle and Leibniz to Alan Turing and Nobert Wiener, the book documents the discoveries and inventions that created today's digital world. Each paper is accompanied by a brief essay by Harry Lewis, the volume's editor, offering historical and intellectual context.

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Book SynopsisA unified framework for developing planning and control algorithms for active sensing, with examples of applications for specific sensor technologies.Active sensor systems, increasingly deployed in such applications as unmanned vehicles, mobile robots, and environmental monitoring, are characterized by a high degree of autonomy, reconfigurability, and redundancy. This book is the first to offer a unified framework for the development of planning and control algorithms for active sensing, with examples of applications for a range of specific sensor technologies. The methods presented can be characterized as information-driven because their goal is to optimize the value of information, rather than to optimize traditional guidance and navigation objectives.

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Book SynopsisStrategies for building large systems that can be easily adapted for new situations with only minor programming modifications.Time pressures encourage programmers to write code that works well for a narrow purpose, with no room to grow. But the best systems are evolvable; they can be adapted for new situations by adding code, rather than changing the existing code. The authors describe techniques they have found effective--over their combined 100-plus years of programming experience--that will help programmers avoid programming themselves into corners.The authors explore ways to enhance flexibility by:Organizing systems using combinators to compose mix-and-match parts, ranging from small functions to whole arithmetics, with standardized interfaces Augmenting data with independent annotation layers, such as units of measurement or provenance Combining independent pieces of partial information using unification or propagation Sepa

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Book SynopsisThe first text to take a systems engineering approach to artificial intelligence (AI), from architecture principles to the development and deployment of AI capabilities.Most books on artificial intelligence (AI) focus on a single functional building block, such as machine learning or human-machine teaming. Artificial Intelligence takes a more holistic approach, addressing AI from the view of systems engineering. The book centers on the people-process-technology triad that is critical to successful development of AI products and services. Development starts with an AI design, based on the AI system architecture, and culminates with successful deployment of the AI capabilities. Directed toward AI developers and operational users, this accessibly written volume of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Series can also serve as a text for undergraduate seniors and graduate-level students and as a reference book. Key features:In-depth look at mod

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive and cutting-edge introduction to the foundations and modern applications of learning theory.Research has exploded in the field of machine learning resulting incomplex mathematical arguments that are hard to grasp for new comers.. In this accessible textbook, Francis Bach presents the foundations and latest advances of learning theory for graduate students as well as researchers who want to acquire a basic mathematical understanding of the most widely used machine learning architectures. Taking the position that learning theory does not exist outside of algorithms that can be run in practice, this book focuses on the theoretical analysis of learning algorithms as it relates to their practical performance. Bach provides the simplest formulations that can be derived from first principles, constructing mathematically rigorous results and proofs without overwhelming students.Provides a balanced and unified treatment of most prevalent machine learning methods Emphasizes practical application and features only commonly used algorithmic frameworks Covers modern topics not found in existing texts, such as overparameterized models and structured prediction Integrates coverage of statistical theory, optimization theory, and approximation theory Focuses on adaptivity, allowing distinctions between various learning techniques Hands-on experiments, illustrative examples, and accompanying code link theoretical guarantees to practical behaviors

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Book SynopsisThe essential guide for writing portable, parallel programs for GPUs using the OpenMP programming model.Today’s computers are complex, multi-architecture systems: multiple cores in a shared address space, graphics processing units (GPUs), and specialized accelerators. To get the most from these systems, programs must use all these different processors. In Programming Your GPU with OpenMP, Tom Deakin and Timothy Mattson help everyone, from beginners to advanced programmers, learn how to use OpenMP to program a GPU using just a few directives and runtime functions. Then programmers can go further to maximize performance by using CPUs and GPUs in parallel—true heterogeneous programming. And since OpenMP is a portable API, the programs will run on almost any system.Programming Your GPU with OpenMP shares best practices for writing performance portable programs. Key features include:The most up-to-date APIs for programming GPU

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Book SynopsisAn unexpected take on how games work, what the stakes are for them, and how game designers can avoid the traps of optimization.The process of optimization in games seems like a good thing—who wouldn’t want to find the most efficient way to play and win? As Christopher Paul argues in Optimizing Play, however, optimization can sometimes risk a tragedy of the commons, where actions that are good for individuals jeopardize the overall state of the game for everyone else. As he explains, players inadvertently limit play as they theorycraft, seeking optimal choices. The process of developing a meta, or the most effective tactic available, structures decision making, causing play to stagnate. A “stale” meta then creates a perception that a game is solved and may lead players to turn away from the game.Drawing on insights from game studies, rhetoric, the history of science, ecology, and game theory literature, Paul explores the problem of o

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Book SynopsisAI is revolutionizing the world. Here’s how democracies can come out on top.Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the modern world. It is ubiquitous—in our homes and offices, in the present and most certainly in the future. Today, we encounter AI as our distant ancestors once encountered fire. If we manage AI well, it will become a force for good, lighting the way to many transformative inventions. If we deploy it thoughtlessly, it will advance beyond our control. If we wield it for destruction, it will fan the flames of a new kind of war, one that holds democracy in the balance. As AI policy experts Ben Buchanan and Andrew Imbrie show in The New Fire, few choices are more urgent—or more fascinating—than how we harness this technology and for what purpose.The new fire has three sparks: data, algorithms, and computing power. These components fuel viral disinformation campaigns, new hacking tools, and military weapons that once s

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Book SynopsisForthcoming from the MIT Press

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Book SynopsisA concise and illuminating history of the field of artificialintelligence from one of its earliest and most respectedpioneers.AI & I is an intellectual history of the field of artificialintelligence from the perspective of one of its firstpractitioners, Eugene Charniak. Charniak entered the field in 1967, roughly 12 yearsafter AI?s founding, and was involved in many of AI?s formativemilestones. In this book, he traces the trajectory of breakthroughsand disappointments of the discipline up to the current day, clearly and engagingly demystifying this oft revered and misunderstood technology. His argument is controversial but well supported: that classical AI has been almost uniformly unsuccessfuland that the modern deep learning approach should beviewed as the foundation for all the exciting developments thatare to come.Written for the scientifically educated layperson, this book chronicles the history of the field of AI, starting with its origin in 1956, as a topic for a small academic workshop held at Dartmouth University. From there, the author covers reasoning and knowledge representation, reasoning under uncertainty, chess, computer vision, speech recognition, language acquisition, deep learning, and learning writ large. Ultimately, Charniak takes issue with the controversy of AI?the fear that its invention means the end of jobs, creativity, and potentially even humans as a species?and explains why such concerns are unfounded. Instead, he believes that we should embrace the technology and all its potential to benefit society.

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Book SynopsisHow Taiwan rose to global prominence in high tech manufacturing, from computer maker to the world?s leading chip manufacturer.How did Taiwan, a former Japanese colony and the last fortress of the defeated Chinese Nationalists, ascend to such heights in high-tech manufacturing? In Island Tinkerers, Honghong Tinn tells the critical history of how hobbyists and enthusiasts in Taiwan, including engineers, technologists, technocrats, computer users, and engineers-turned-entrepreneurs, helped transform the country with their hands-on engagement with computers. Rather than engaging in wholesale imitation of US sources, she explains, these technologists tinkered with imported computing technology and experimented with manufacturing their own versions, resulting in their own brand of successful innovation.Defying the stereotype of ?the West innovates, and the East imitates,? Tinn tells the story of Taiwanese technologists? efforts over the past six decades. Beginning in the 1960s, they grappled with the ?black-boxed? computers that were newly available through international technical-aid programs. Shortly after, multinational corporations that outsourced transistor and integrated circuit assembly overseas began employing Taiwanese engineers and factory workers. Island tinkerers developed strategies to adapt, modify, assemble, and work with computers in an inventive manner. It was through this creative and ingenious tinkering with computers that they were able to gain a better understanding of the technology, opening the door to future manufacturing endeavors that now include Acer, Foxconn, Asus, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

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Book SynopsisAn anthology of seven decades of English-language outputs from computer generation systems, chronicling the vast history of machine-written texts created long before ChatGPT.The discussion of computer-generated text has recently reached a fever pitch but largely omits the long history of work in this area?text generation, as it happens, was not invented yesterday in Silicon Valley. This anthology, Output, thoughtfully selected, introduced, and edited by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram and Nick Montfort, aims to correct that omission by gathering seven decades of English-language texts produced by generation systems and software. The outputs span many different types of creative writing and include text generated by research systems, along with reports and utilitarian texts, representing many general advances and experiments in text generation.Output is first and foremost a collection of outputs to be encountered by readers. In addition to an overall introduction, each of the excerpts is introduced individually and organized by fine-grain genre including conversations, humor, letters, poetry, prose, and sentences. Bibliographic references allow readers to learn more about outputs and systems that intrigue them. Although Output could serve as a reference book, it is designed to be readable and to be read. Purposefully excluded are human?computer collaborations that were conceptually defined but not implemented as a computer system.Copublished by Counterpath Press

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Book SynopsisA media history of simulation that contextualizes our digital heritage and the history of computing.In Computing Legacies, Peter Krapp explores a media history of simulation to excavate three salient aspects of digital culture. Firstly, he profiles simulation as cultural technique, enabling symbolic work and foregrounding hypothetical literacy. Secondly, he positions simulation as crucial for the preservation of cultural memory, where modeling, emulation, and serious play are constitutive in how we relate to our mediated history. And lastly, despite suggestions that we may already live in a simulation, he interrogates how simulation can serve as critique of the computer age.In tracing our digital heritage, Computing Legacies elucidates inflection points where quantitative data becomes tractable for qualitative evaluations: modeling epidemics for scientific study or entertainment, emulating older devices, turning numerical calculations into music, conducting espionage in virtual worlds, and gamifying higher education. Simulation, this book demonstrates, is pivotal not only to high-tech research and to archives, museums, and the preservation of digital culture but also to our understanding of what it is to live and work under the technical conditions of computing.

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Book SynopsisAnyone Can Code: The Art and Science of Logical Creativity introduces computer programming as a way of problem-solving through logical thinking. It uses the notion of modularization as a central lens through which we can make sense of many software concepts. This book takes the reader through fundamental concepts in programming by illustrating them in three different and distinct languages: C/C++, Python, and Javascript. Key features: Focuses on problem-solving and algorithmic thinking instead of programming functions, syntax, and libraries; Includes engaging examples, including video games and visual effects; Provides exercises and reflective questions. This book gives beginner and intermediate learners a strong understanding of what they are doing so that they can do it better and with any other tool or language that they may end up using later.Trade Review“An excellent book that teaches programming and software development the way it should be done: independent from a specific implementation language and focusing on the main principles that are fundamental and substantive to any kind of software production…. Overall, a well-developed book that provides a comprehensive journey through the substantive topics essential to programming; I agree with the title; with the help of this book anyone can code. Given the unique strength of being agnostic to a specific language in the presentation of the central themes I wish that this book becomes a core reading text to academic institutions delivering on Computer Science and Software Development.”-- Dr Marc Conrad, Principal Lecturer, University of Bedfordshire“Ali Arya guides you in a fantastic journey full of creativity in a coherent way that allows the traveler to learn and build up over the knowledge acquired in previous chapters until the reader accomplishes skills to develop solutions using programming.”-- Andrés A. Navarro Newball, Professor, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali Colombia“An excellent book that teaches programming and software development the way it should be done: independent from a specific implementation language and focusing on the main principles that are fundamental and substantive to any kind of software production…. Overall, a well-developed book that provides a comprehensive journey through the substantive topics essential to programming; I agree with the title; with the help of this book anyone can code. Given the unique strength of being agnostic to a specific language in the presentation of the central themes I wish that this book becomes a core reading text to academic institutions delivering on Computer Science and Software Development.”-- Dr Marc Conrad, Principal Lecturer, University of Bedfordshire“Ali Arya guides you in a fantastic journey full of creativity in a coherent way that allows the traveler to learn and build up over the knowledge acquired in previous chapters until the reader accomplishes skills to develop solutions using programming.”-- Andrés A. Navarro Newball, Professor, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali ColombiaTable of ContentsList of Sidebars. List of Tables. List of Exhibits. Preface. Acknowledgments. Definition of Key Terms. Abbreviation. Companion Website. Part 1 Getting Started. Introduction. Chapter 1 Computers, Programs, and Games. Chapter 2 Logical Creativity. Part 2 Understanding Programs. Chapter 3 Data: Program’s Information. Chapter 4 Code: Program’s Operation. Chapter 5 Functions. Part 3 Structured Programming. Chapter 6 Types, Files, and Libraries. Chapter 7 Modularization of Data. Chapter 8 Modularization of Code. Part 4 Object-Oriented Programming. Chapter 9 Modularization of Data and Code. Chapter 10 Object-Oriented Design. Part 5 More about Objects and Classes. Chapter 11 Class Hierarchies. Chapter 12 Object Identities. Part 6 Moving Forward. Chapter 13 Software Design. Chapter 14 Software Projects. Chapter 15 Concluding Notes. BIBLIOGRAPHY. INDEX.

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Book SynopsisNew computational design tools have evolved rapidly and been increasingly applied in the field of design in recent years, complimenting and even replacing the traditional design media and approaches. Design as both the process and product are changing due to the emergence and adoption of these new technologies. Understanding and assessing the impact of these new computational design environments on design and designers is important for advancing design in the contemporary context. Do these new computational environments support or hinder design creativity? How do those tools facilitate designers' thinking? Such knowledge is also important for the future development of design technologies. Research shows that design is never a mysterious non-understandable process, for example, one general view is that design process shares a common analysis-synthesis-evaluation model, during which designers interact between design problem and solution spaces. Understanding designers' thinking in difTable of ContentsIntroduction. Emergent technologies in computational design. Understanding design cognition in computational and generative design. Cognitive impacts and computational design environments. Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book offers a practical approach to understanding, designing, and building sound software based on solid principles. Using a unique Q&A format, this book addresses the issues that engineers need to understand in order to successfully work with software engineers, develop specifications for quality software, and learn the basics of the most common programming languages, development approaches, and paradigms. The new edition is thoroughly updated to improve the pedagogical flow and emphasize new software engineering processes, practices, and tools that have emerged in every software engineering area.Features: Defines concepts and processes of software and software development, such as agile processes, requirements engineering, and software architecture, design, and construction. Uncovers and answers various misconceptions about the software development process and presents an up-to-date reflection on the state of practice in the indusTable of ContentsIntroduction, 1. The Profession of Software Engineering, 2. Software Properties, Processes, and Standards, 3. Software Requirements Engineering, 4. Software Architecture, 5. Designing Software, 6. Software Construction, 7. Software Quality Assurance, 8. Managing Software Projects and Software Engineers, 9. Software Engineering: Roadmap to the Future

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